Harvest vessel to dock as tug of war continues.
Authorities have reinforced the decision that fish onboard the multi-million euro vessel must be processed in Norway to preserve the reputation of Norwegian fish.
In December, the harvest vessel “Norwegian Gannet” was told by the government that it could not process some of its fish (ie production fish). The Norwegian Ministry of Food and Fisheries initally granted an exception to the company but that was overturned.
Hav Line appealed the decision. But on Friday afternoon, the ministry refused to give them the exception they needed.
“Must answer for the risk they have taken”
In its decision, the Ministry wrote that they did not assume that Hav Line received a legitimate expectation that regulations would not apply to them, according to NRK.
“Hav Line must in principle itself answer for the risk they have taken by assuming that this requirement could be waived before such a decision was made,” the decision stated, among other things.
The Ministry of Trade and Fisheries justifies the decision in a paragraph in a quality regulation document that says that it’s not permitted to send production fish out of the country. According to the regulations, it;s not able to sort out production fish when it comes to Denmark.
“The reasoning is a technicality and completely incomprehensible to us,” said Carl-Erik Arnesen, CEO of Hav Line in a press release.
Alerts legal steps
“Norwegian Gannet” was ready and ready for operation in November last year. The revolutionary harvest vessel is meant to process fish straight from the cages to harvest on board. The boat will go between fish pens in western Norway to a brand new fishing terminal in Hirtshals, Denmark. The plan was ready to go within weeks.
Arnesen told the publication that the shipping company will complain and said the affair warrants legal steps.
“With this rejection it means that we have to dock the boat. But we can’t give up. The ship will sail, but I am very misled. I think it’s sad,” he said.
Employees will lose their jobs
Arnesen said that redundancies could become a reality.
“Employees will lose their jobs and the people we had planned to hire will not be hired. It’s totally incomprehensible. We now expect politicians to take action to save Norwegian jobs, and that “Norwegian Gannet” can start regular sailing soon,” Arnesen wrote in the press release.
